Top 3 things to do in Ellicottville, NY

 

Downtown Ellicottville, NY

When my wife and I were searching for a suitable location during the month of June, we came upon Ellicottville, in western New York.  We knew monthly rentals in beach areas during the summer months would be exorbitantly high, so we tried to stay away from beaches as much as possible.

Ellicottville fit the bill!  It was in western New York, which we haven’t been to in well over 18 years, since our move to Hawaii from New York City.

We have to admit, we didn’t know much about the town of Ellicottville when we booked it via Vrbo.  We weren’t sure what to expect to find there, or what attractions were nearby…

Our worries were overblown.  We found so many things to do and see around Ellicottville!  

We left on a Tuesday June 1st, from our parent’s place in New York City.  It was a beautiful morning for a road trip!

As usual, our SUV was packed with our belongings, as we needed 3 months worth of stuff for the summer months.  June would be in Ellicottville, July would be in Indiana (PA), and August would be in Altoona (PA).  All these would be booked via either AirBNB or Vrbo.  

We took the I-80 west towards Pennsylvania, then I-380 north, until we hit I-86 west.  We had never driven on the I-86, so it was a treat to be driving on a new road for the first time.

Giddy with excitement, we got off the exit for Ellicottville.  It took us to some wide open country roads, over roads that didn’t have lane markings, and over roads that didn’t seem to lead us to any big town or village.

We were running low on gas, and my wife (ever the worrying type) was visibly apprehensive about driving on roads that seem to go deeper into the farmlands and over the hills…

After about 30 minutes of driving on these roads, we saw the first inkling of a civilization!  We saw railroad tracks, followed by one house, then two houses, eventually lot more houses than we can count.

We had finally arrived at our destination.

We had the check-in instructions so that part of the trip went just fine.  After unloading, then unpacking our belongings, we tried to connect to the wifi.  It would not connect!  We notified our host who tried to fix the issue, but it was for the most part unsuccessful, as our wifi would connect for few minutes, then disconnect.

This WiFi situation would continue for the next two weeks.  I’m happy to report that the wifi somehow magically worked after two weeks though.  What did we do during those two weeks without wifi?  Well  we went to a local library and borrowed some books!  We also went to the Main Street area for free wifi when needed.  

Improvise and overcome…Hope for the best, plan for the worst…

I ended up reading 6 books while my wife read 4 books.  We consider that time well spent without wifi!  Honestly, we wouldn’t have read books were it not for lack of internet…

Besides the wifi situation, everything else went perfectly.  Our Vrbo rental had a French door leading out to the deck, which we used to great advantage during our stay.  We would watch the rain falling, and we would enjoy the canopy of trees surrounding our rental.  

When we had few continuous days of rain, we had a great time just watching the rain, with a cup of coffee/tea in our hands.

On days when it didn’t rain, we took to the outdoors and we were blown away by the amount of attractions nearby.

When visiting Ellicottville area, please check out these top 3 attractions:

     1)  Rock City Park

Rock City Park is located on top of Rock City Hill at elevation of 2,300 feet above sea level.  Located in the town of Olean, NY, this prehistoric ocean floor boasts the world’s largest exposure of quartz conglomerate (also called ocean spar or puddingstone).

Rock City Park is a geological spectacle of gigantic rock formations and is a popular local and tourist attraction.  The park has a large visitor center/gift shop, walking trails, jaw dropping rocks, and scenic vistas.

We left our temporary home in Ellicottville at around 9:30 a.m. so we can get there by the time it opens at 10:00 a.m.  The drive to Rock City Park was a memorable one, with country roads opening up to nice vistas of nearby mountains and farms.  

By the time we got near the park, we noticed a slight uptick in elevation.  Our ears popped as we got near the top!  Toby also let us know he wasn’t happy about the elevation change.

We arrived at the Rock City Park but saw that the main gate was locked.  We double checked the opening hour of 10 a.m. and our own time.  We were on time.

After waiting around for the next 15 minutes in our car, we finally saw someone driving right up to the front gate, then unlock the gate.  We were relieved!

It turned out to be the owner of the establishment.  She was a very friendly and gregarious person.  We chatted several minutes about our road trip, to other attractions we’ve visited, and about Toby.

She explained her family had bought this place years ago, and was hoping to see it grow.  We certainly liked what we saw.  

After paying a very reasonable admission fee of $5 per person, we started to walk towards the trail.  The trail begins by walking over to top of gigantic rocks and over interconnecting walkways in between the rocks.  

Toby was in his element!  He kept up eagerly anticipating and watching his steps right behind me.  

We stopped over at a large gazebo popular with wedding parties for photos.  We took some photos ourselves and proceeded to the next portion of the trail, which is a staircase going down into the crevice between several enormous rock formations.

I lifted Toby then made it down. My wife would follow next.  We stopped to marvel at the otherworldly scenery before us.  We looked up to see gigantic rocks easily towering over 10 stories majestically standing upright before us.

We followed the well marked trail markings and continued our journey.  We came upon more impressive otherworldly rock formations and unique looking rocks that mimic either a face or a bridge.

One of many views of enormous rocks

Main entrance to the park 

Awesome rock formations!

We stopped often to spend few minutes looking around and enjoying the scenery.  Toby was psyched to walk some more, as he pulled us as trail got bit more hilly.

We followed Toby as he expertly weaved in and out of tight spots and jumped up or down on small outcrops of rocks found on the trail.  We could tell he was truly loving the place!

These crevices are common at the park

Just awesome!

This might be the most famous rock formation at the park

While walking and exploring, we ran across a friendly gentleman, who was with his grandsons and his wife.  We chatted for several minutes, each asking where we’ve seen and each making recommendations on where to go next.

After saying goodbyes, we headed back up the trail to head back.  It was an exhausting walk up to climb the stairs towards the visitor center area, but we had made it!  

We had a blast experiencing unique rock formations that wouldn’t be out of place in Utah or in Mars!  We loved the place and so did Toby.

We headed back to the gift shop and bought some souvenirs that were on blowout sale.  We bought a potpourri for us and for our hosts (Vrbo), then headed back home.

     2)  Holiday Valley 

Holiday Valley is a four season resort tucked away in the McCarty Hill and is only a mile from downtown Ellicottville.  

It is a popular winter sports destination during the winter, but it is also a popular destination for other seasons.  During spring, summer, and fall seasons, activities like golf, treetop adventures, mountain biking, biking, and hiking take center stage.

We stopped by the resort one day to see the resort first hand.  We were impressed by the cleanliness and the modern feel of the resort.  Everything looked to be in tiptop shape.

We took few moments to walk around the main lodge area, the golf course, and the cafes.  As we walked around, Toby saw a cute little chipmunk gnawing at something in the brush.  We saw the chipmunk as well.  He was a cute little one!

After getting a good feel of the place, we talked about trying our hands at the treetops adventure course at Sky Adventures next time.

We made that happen the following week!

We stopped at the check-in booth and paid $58 per person for the Sky Adventures.  We had never tried it, but it was on our bucket list.  

We got suited up by the friendly staff and we went outside to get a quick orientation.  Lucky for us, there was a separate practice area for first timers.  That was a relief!

We didn’t quite get how the equipment all worked during practice, but we got it as we were climbing the first obstacle course to start our journey.

I had found my calling.  I was practically grinning all the way through the obstacle course.  My wife was having a slightly longer adjustment period, but she would courageously follow my footsteps!

The zip lining was too much fun!  I was screaming for joy at the thing.  

We had completed our first course in about an hour, and we continued toward our second course.  We completed that second course in another hour or so.  

We were both tired but excited!  We were so happy we had finally tried the treetop adventure course!

We were allotted 3 hours at the course, but we called it a day after about 2 hours.  We didn’t want to push our luck too much on our first try…We knew aches and pain were coming the following day!  (And it did.  My legs hurt, while my wife hurt everywhere!)

Toby hanging out at a chair made from a ski chairlift!

Holiday Valley 

Main lodge area with mountain view

Treetop adventure!

     3)  Nannen Arboretum 

Located less than a mile from the downtown Ellicottville area, we had to check out the arboretum.  We stopped by on a hot June morning with temperatures hitting around 80 degrees by 10 a.m.

We knew Toby would be getting hot, so we quickly walked through the arboretum.  

We found the entrance charming as it has a wood table and wood benches replicating a classroom setting.  We made our way inside the arboretum and found beautiful trees almost creating a canopy at the entrance of the trail.

Along the trail, it goes through different areas like the crabapple tree collection, conifer tree collection, herb garden, and a memorial garden.  Eventually, we followed the trail to a small pond that has a beautiful Japanese bridge called ‘Amano Hashidate Bridge.’

One of my favorite things at the arboretum, a Japanese stone garden

Entrance to the arboretum 

Bridge sign

Amano Hashidate Bridge

View from the trail looking towards the mountains 

The pond loops back towards the entrance.  On the way back, we took a look at the Japanese stone garden, which turned out to be our favorite thing at the arboretum.

Although the arboretum was a small one, we enjoyed it just the same.  It was a nice sojourn close to the downtown area, and we highly recommend it.

In conclusion:

We were impressed by all the attractions that were available near Ellicottville.  We ended up spending about two weeks out of the month exploring all over the place near and far.

We loved the friendly people we met along our journey and we loved the location of Ellicottville in western New York.

One month was not enough to truly appreciate all that western New York has to offer.  We wish to go back in our future travels!  

Thank you all for reading!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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